The new Fall 2010 Twist Collective was released today and I’m so excited to see the beautiful design Amy Herzog (aka stashknitrepeat) has created from our Merino Silk DK. “Twinflower” is a fingering/sport-weight pullover with classic styling and delicate details. And I’m so enamoured with the lace insets at the sleeve edges. I’m looking forward to seeing all the projects that come out of this lovely design.

It goes without saying that in the past few years Ravelry has changed the face of the knitting world. And now they want to make things even better.

The hardworking folks at Ravelry have been working on creating an improved search function so that we can find patterns more easily based on more detailed criteria. For instance, you are specifically looking for a hexagonal-shaped shawl that employs twisted stitches, entrelac and estonian lace patterns… well, this new search feature will be able to do that for you… with your help. Basically, over 166,000 patterns will need to be reclassified in order to best work with the search feature. So for every pattern you reclassify (that is not your own design), you will be entered for a chance to win one of the 17 amazing prizes that have been donated. Our collection of yarns (above) is one of said prizes.

If you want the full scoop about the Ravelry Search Party, check it out »

By Sunday afternoon, it had started raining and I headed out for lunch, bringing my current project… the Geodesic Cardigan. I have been feeling pretty lucky that I managed to get a copy of the Knitscene magazine that this pattern is in. It seems to be sold out everywhere, but on one visit to a yarn shop, the staff didn’t have it but helped me call around to other yarn stores to locate it for me. It was like a scene out of Miracle on 34th Street. And yes, they found a copy of the magazine for me at another yarn shop who promised to hold it for me. So, now, even though I really want to make this cardi, I feel a little obligated to enjoy this gift.

Well, I’ve had a lot of time to knit on this… We attempted to leave Nanaimo on Sunday afternoon around 3:30 pm but missed the 5 pm ferry and ended up on the 7 pm ferry. Then the 7 pm ferry was delayed by 30 minutes in departing. Mid-way through the trip, the captain says they were directed to go retrieve a boat that had flipped over, so we had to turn the ferry around (is that even possible?) and go back to get that boat. Turns out the “boat” was a little walmart tub that looked like a baby’s washing basin. That delayed us by another 45 minutes. It was pretty much 10 pm by the time we set foot in Horseshoe Bay. Six and a half hours spent waiting and sitting. We could have flown to Toronto in less time… I honestly don’t know how people commute back and forth from the Island for work. It’s such an unreliable form of transporation. But I guess if you have the luxury of time like we did, then no matter.

These are the four new variegated and “gently” variegated colourways: Maple, Summer Dusk, Violet Hill, and Peashoot. As well, a couple very delicate and almost neutral semi-solids: Tumbled Stone and Summer Skin.

And, also debuting at Fibres West last month, the DK (4-ply) weight of our Merino Silk series. Merino Silk DK is 4-ply whereas the Merino Silk Lace is 2-ply and Merino Silk Aran is 8-ply. It’s been great for really quick or beginner lace knitting. I’m getting a gauge of 24 sts per 4″ for 3.75 mm needles, but I’m sure everyone knits at different tensions and everyone prefers a different hand. I’ve dyed a whole bunch of it to either knit the new Manu cardigan by Kate Davies or Coraline by Ysolda. I can’t decide. And I also have a little stash of it in a special blue shade to knit the Apres Surf Hoodie by Connie Chang Chinchio

Fibres West was a really wonderful experience and I’m so grateful for all the customers and friends, both new and old, who stopped by the booth to say hello. Since we were positioned next to the Ravelry booth, we were audience and participant in a few little reunions.

It’s the very first time I’ve ever participated in a show situation and I was so nervous about getting enough stuff ready to display, getting the booth together, driving a truck… but luckily my old high school friends, James and Teresa, do this kind of thing for a living. They are both industrial and interior designers with their own design company, Light Couture International, and they helped me design and build the booth. They came over to the studio throughout March to paint all my shelving and helped set it all up on Thursday evening before the show. Amazing and professional, they took a huge weight off my shoulders so that I could just focus on dyeing great colours and making lots of yarn.

I am completely in awe of shop owners who are able to get their whole kit together and go from show to show to show. It’s a ton of work, but so worth it to see people in person, excited about the yarn and fibre. Thank you to everyone who came to help and visit!

I’ll leave you with one of our photos from Fibres West… the rest are on Flickr.

Our newest yarn base has arrived and we finally had a chance to select a name for it!

Thank you to everyone who took time to email me name suggestions! It took sorting through nearly 300 suggestions from readers and customers for us to finally pick the name. A long-time SweetGeorgia friend and student, Dana, suggested “Secret Crush” and it was the closest thing to describing the slightly crystallized look and feel of our new silk and superwash merino blend yarn. Kind of like crushed velvet in yarn form. Charming, rustic and wonderfully soft.

Like all our yarns, I always recommend that people handwash and air dry their precious handknit pieces. But of course, the convenience factor plays a big part and for my own handknit socks, I’ll admit to throwing them in the washer… but the socks don’t do well in the dryer. That’s a big no-no for me, personally. So, if you want to knit socks out of this yarn, definitely, on 2.25 mm needles, I found it to make a beautiful, soft fabric. Delicate, yes. Not for hardwearing boot socks, no.

Better yet, I think this will make a wonderful baby gift yarn. It’s superwash so it’s easy-care, but then it’s got the 50% silk to make it so much more luxurious and gift-worthy. And if you love knitting small shawls or tiny cardigans, I think this new yarn will fit the mix very nicely.

It’s available now on our shop website as part of our dyed-to-order collection. You can also come visit us at FibresWest this coming weekend to see it in person! I’m knitting it up in the Traveling Woman’s Shawl, so you can definitely have a look and feel.

You will be able to find Wetcoast Winter in Tough Love Sock, Superwash Sport, Superwash Worsted and CashSilk Lace at both Urban Yarns and Three Bags Full in Vancouver and also at Pick Up Sticks in Ontario. We even have it as dye-to-order until February 28, 2010 online here »

See what some people have knit up already with the Wetcoast Winter colourway: Julia at Crispy Noodle and her Luscious Lace, Alexa the Gourmet Crafter’s 5-Hour Baby Sweater (which, I think, you can see in person at Urban Yarns).

And how about an Olympic knitters meetup? Some of the knitters on Ravelry have been discussing how we might be able to get together with guests and visitors to Vancouver over the next 16 days. Want to join in the conversation? Visit Ravelry for the full discussion. I’m thinking we might be able to organize a brunch at The Whip Gallery & Restaurant on East 6th Avenue and Main Street in Vancouver on Saturday, February 20th and then walk over to the studio afterwards so that you guys can have a look at how the space has changed since we first opened. Again, nothing is confirmed yet, but I’d love to hear if you guys would be interested in getting together!

The yarn is 50% of the softest and squishiest superwash merino wool blended with 50% glossy silk in a fingering/sock weight. It’s about 375 yards per 4 oz skein and could definitely be used to knit a pair of special socks, or better yet, a little shawl or cardigan. I love this yarn because it has the easy-care of superwash, but also added strength and lustre from the silk.

I’d like to add this to our website for early Spring, so go ahead and email me your suggestions at felicia [at] sweetgeorgiayarns [dot] com up until February 28, 2010. Send up to 5 suggestions for the name of the base yarn (not the actual purple colour) and also the colourway you’d like if you win… see our colourways here » So far, our sock yarns are called things like “Tough Love Sock” and “Superwash Sock”…

I’m so looking forward to hearing your ideas!!

Since the holidays, I’ve been buried in a pile of dyed yarn, but it’s all getting finished up and send out to yarn shops now. In the next couple weeks, you should start to see our yarns available at a few new venues:

• Once Around in Mill Valley, CA | Once Around is having their grand opening on February 1st so if you are around the San Francisco Bay Area, maybe stop in and see! They are all crafts — sewing, découpage, wreath-making, knitting, stamping, embroidery, glitter and lots more.
• The Tinsmith’s Wife in Comfort, TX | Located in a little antique town, everything about this shop is so warm and friendly.
• Simply Socks Yarn Company online | Catering to the needs, desires and whims of sock knitters everywhere.
• Mad About Ewe in Nanaimo, British Columbia | Our first yarn shop on Vancouver Island! It’s located in the Old City Quarter of Nanaimo.
• Eat.Sleep.Knit online and in Georgia | Soon, we’ll have a comprehensive selection of yarns available on the Eat.Sleep.Knit shop site. They specialize in handpainted yarns!
• The Ashton Store in Ashton, Ontario | This is one of the oldest village general stores around dating back to 1851! Now this old general store stocks knitting yarn and hosts knitters every week.

And lastly, we are going to take a booth at the upcoming Fibres West festival in Abbotsford this March 26 and 27, so come see us and our fibre/yarn in person!

Occasionally this past year, I’ve had a couple fibre club members subscribe but not realize that it was actually spinning fibre. And since they didn’t actually know how to spin, I was perfectly happy to dye up some sock yarn skeins as substitutes for the fibre.

I’m enjoying the creative freedom in being able to dye new colourways and play with some luxurious new blends. I’m even tempted to offer a “Yarn Club” type subscription if enough people are interested.

Want to join us for our second year of Fibre Club? We’re taking new subscriptions now on the online shop and you can always follow along with our Ravelry group. The Fibre Club members have all been so positive and active about spinning up their fibre and posting photos. Reminds me that I need to finish spinning the Wensleydale in my own set of November fibres.

This pattern, the Vine Yoke Cardigan, is wonderfully written. It’s sort of a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet and so far, the lace pattern seems to be working out just as Ysolda says it will. I’m enjoying the knitting of it as it’s going pretty quickly. Although I won’t finish in the 10 days someone else on Ravelry took to knit this, hopefully it won’t be in my queue for a year… unlike other projects.

So, for Winter, I’m adding this new Slate grey colour to our palette of Dye To Order yarns as well as the Cypress green above. It’s a bit woodsy and murky, a darker and more desaturated teal green. Both these colours will be available in all our yarns, although it might take a bit of time to get it all entered into the online shop. If you don’t see it, just email/txt/twitter.

Another change we’ll be making to the offerings is that our Superwash Worsted and Superwash Sport yarns will be available as larger 4 oz skeins now… more than double the 50g skeins we were doing originally. Hopefully for you sweater knitters, this just means fewer joins and more continuous knitting time. I think we all need more of that. And the opposite is true for the Silk Lamb Lace — we’ve changed the put up to 60g of 625 yards of laceweight goodness. More affordable at this skein size and perfect for the smaller shawl designs that have been popping up!